Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Psalm 150 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Praise.

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
² Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

³ Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
⁴ Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.                                                                     Praise the Lord!

Today in another psalm exhorting us to praise God, he says:  Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.   We too should acknowledge that everything is the Lord’s. Whether His mighty expanse, anywhere on earth and even buildings made by man, everything we see and touch is the Lord’s. It is God who created the heavens and the earth. It is He who has given man the resources and the wisdom to build things, so they too are His. Jesus says:  “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “ (Matthew 28:18)   Everywhere we go, everything we see should remind us of God. It should evoke praise to Him. The psalmist says:  Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.    Surely, other than the fools who would deny the hand of God in the beauty and splendor, the awesomeness and magnitude of creation, it seems natural and easy to praise God for His mighty deeds, creating heaven and earth. Likewise, when we are the beneficiary of His mighty deeds, when we experience the hand of God in protection, provision, healing or deliverance, it seems right and natural that we praise Him. James 1:17 says:  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.    We should both acknowledge the source of every good thing, and we should thank and praise Him for them. But, even when we don’t see or benefit from His mighty deeds, still we should praise Him according to His excellent greatness. In Psalm 145:3, the psalmist says:  Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.   His greatness is unsearchable because it is not based in what we see, or what He has done, but rather it is based in who He is. Greatness is part of the character of God and it is for who God is, not what He does or has done that we should praise Him. He is great even when the circumstances of life are not. Whether in good times or hard times, God is worthy and deserving of praise.

The psalmist says:   Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!    Lucifer, the devil, was originally created to praise God. He had instruments fashioned within his body. Music, all music was originally intended to give praise to God. That is the intention we too should have for music and instruments. A song does not have to include Christian lyrics to give glory and praise to God. Colossians 3:23 says:  Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.   Music and instruments should be to give glory and praise to God. Those who pervert music with perverse lyrics, choose to rebel and worship the devil rather than God. We should choose wisely the music we sing and play. We should choose wisely even what we listen to. Again, good music does not have to include Christian lyrics, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.   But what is evil is evil. God says:  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)   To take what God intended for good and turn it to perversion is not without consequence. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals.

The psalmist says:   Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.     We’ve seen recently that all of creation, the sun, the moon, the stars; the trees and the fields, the mountains, the hills and the valleys; the oceans and the streams all praise God. Every living creature, all of creation is obedient to and praises God in all they do. We alone must choose. Regardless of circumstance, we should:  Praise the Lord!  

Amen. I will praise You Lord, for all that You do and all that You have done. I will praise You everywhere I go. I will praise You because You are great and worthy of praise. While I have breath, I will praise You in all that I do.   Amen.